Hero's Lament
by ZeldaPotter29
Summary: Being a hero is hard and Link doesn't know how much longer he can take it. Luckily, Harry Potter understands just how his friend feels and is there for him. THIS IS NOT INTENDED AS A SLASH, but you can interpret it however you want to. Friend fluff.
Link had run along the same path for ages now. His anger was slowly draining away and was replaced by sadness and sorrow, his pace slowing to a heavy walk. Why in Hyrule did everything have to depend on him?

Soon, it started to rain. He winced as the water fell on some of the various cuts and bruises he had received in combat. The water was coming down in torrents now, as if the very heavens had opened. He took shelter under a large leaf of a plant.

He pulled his knees up to his chest, shivering, and suddenly the weight of it all crashed down on him. _Why me?_ He thought miserably, _Why did you have to choose me, of all people?_ He was just a human and was only sixteen, yet he carried the burden of the entire world. And having his best friend stolen from him right before his very eyes did not help the situation.

It seemed as if no one in Hyrule could solve their own problems. It all fell down to him. Pointless deliveries, fetch quests, finding hidden things, these sorts of small things he could do; he could be a Good Samaritan. But being given the burden of abolishing all darkness in the land? No! He was only sixteen….

Why did the Goddess have to chose her heroes at such a young age, putting them under unbearable pressure that even adults couldn't even come close to bearing? Being chosen, out of the blue, no warning, no nothing! Just someone who said, "You are the Hero chosen by the Gods" and BAM! Suddenly everything rested on you! Here's the Master Sword! The only sword that can destroy the evil of this land! Bye! Have a nice day! Good luck killing off the most powerful man in the world even though you're just an ignorant teenage midget!

You had to suffer in silence, being forced to stay strong nonstop. You couldn't show any signs of weakness: no tears, no sorrow, no nothing. You just couldn't let it show. Otherwise they all looked down on you… And Link was always left to just sit there as his grief tore him apart inside, where no one could see. A constant world of torment, and all in utter silence, letting no one in to help lessen the pain. "I never wanted this…. I don't deserve this…." Link murmured. The hopelessness of it all was welling up inside of him like a swelling balloon, clenching at his chest. "Why?" He whispered mournfully, over and over, "Why? Why…?" He buried his head in his arms, his knees drawn up to his chest in a pitiful ball.

A lump began to form in his throat, but he swallowed, trying to force it down. He had felt this before; he could hold it back now. But he simply couldn't take it all anymore. The weight of it all crushed him, pushing down on him, forcing him lower to the ground. The lump in his throat was now becoming quite painful. He couldn't swallow it down, he couldn't hold it in…. No, he had to hold it in…. He couldn't lose control, he couldn't-

But there was no holding it back. He felt heat growing behind his eyes. He closed his eyes tight against the inevitable tears. _Stop it, stop it, STOP IT! Snap out of it Link, snap out of it!_ But the more he resisted, the heavier the weight of grief and suffering seemed to become. It seemed to weigh down on his very heart and lungs, making him short of breath.

He could feel himself shaking uncontrollably. His breathing became short and sharp from bottled emotion. It seemed that every day he was stabbed in the heart with a knife, creating wounds that could never fully heal. He bit down hard on his lip, as if that could somehow hold it in. The bottom half of his vision started to blur, feeling heavy and wet. The wetness trickled swiftly down his left cheek and onto the ground. _No, stop stop stop! Stop it!_ But it was as if someone had broken some sort of barrier within him and it all came pouring out.

A strange, sad sort of sound escaped him, like a wounded animal. Then Link stopped resisting. He didn't care anymore. He _couldn't_ care anymore. And he broke down completely, weeping bitterly into his arms, letting the tears mingle with the rain on his face, no longer caring that his cries echoed around the clearing so anyone passing by could hear him and find him. Heck, at this point, he wished a monster would find him, so he could finally put an end to his misery.

He didn't like it when he cried. He felt so small, childlike, and weak whenever he did. But this time there was no holding it back, it all came gushing out of him as if someone had broken some sort of invisible dam inside of him and he could no longer stop the rushing horde.

After sitting there crying for a long time, he heard someone walking around the forest through the pouring rain calling his name, "Link! Link, where are you? LINK!"

Link ignored their calls; the only thing that his ears could focus on was the sound of his own sorrow. He heard someone walking into the clearing where he was. "Link?" The voice was gentle and hesitant. He recognized it as Harry's voice. Harry Potter, from the other world, the Wizarding World. He heard Harry come closer until he was sitting on the ground beside him. He felt him put a tentative arm around his shoulder, "It's all right Link… It's all going to be ok…."

"No." He murmured, shifting himself so that his back was to the young wizard so that he could avoid eye contact with Harry. "You don't understand. You don't know how this feels!" Suddenly he felt angry. How could Harry say that? How dare he think that he could ever understand? No one could _ever_ understand! He shrugged Harry's arm off.

Harry sighed sadly, "Link, you're probably going to blow up at me for saying this, just like I did with Dumbledore when _he_ tried to understand, but I _do_ understand how this feels."

Link glared at him and bit down hard on his bottom lip to contain his anger. Harry's understanding tone seemed to only increase his fury. No one could know how this felt…. A stray tear trickled down his face at this thought. He was alone. He was always alone. And he would be, forever.

Harry went on as if he hadn't seen Link's reaction at all, "I felt this way two years ago. Back when I first found out that I was the Chosen One back in my own world."

Link's pointed ears seemed to perk up slightly in surprise and he turned around slowly to look at Harry. The boy wizard's clothes were sopping wet from searching for his friend out in the pouring rain, his unruly black hair uncharacteristically flat from being wet down by the rain.

Harry nodded, with an emotionless smile. "There was a Prophecy in the Ministry of Magic that spoke of my fate. It said that I was the one who had the power to defeat that dark wizard I told you about. That either I killed him or he would kill me… in the end." Harry paused to let his words sink in, then, "The fate of the Wizarding world rested solely on me. I was only fifteen and I was the one who had to kill the darkest wizard of all time. Now does that sound fair to you?"

Link was silent, his face, still turned away from Harry's, was burning with shame. "No, no it doesn't."

"It's not fair, Link. We're just trying to have as normal a life as we can and then they squeeze it all down our throats! And we're all just human. And we are not perfect, no matter how hard we try. Our enemies find our weaknesses; in our case, our desire to save those close to us, and use it to break us down. How our respective worlds expect us to do it all, I have no idea, but we have to try, or we'll never know if we truly can."

Link felt Harry's words sinking into his skin. He _did_ understand. He hesitated, trying to put his thoughts into words, "It's just so hard Harry. I see them all in my mind, whenever I close my eyes. The enemies I've killed, their last dying breath, the endless screeches, the cries and the pain, the war…." He clutched at his head, his fingers gripping at the base of his hair, "It won't stop repeating. It's like an endless slideshow and I can't look away!" His voice broke at the last sentence.

Harry nodded solemnly, "I know. I see it too, the endless slideshow in my head. All the pain I've caused. People who gave their lives to save me. Who died because of _me_. It's all left me scared," Harry paused for a moment, running his fingers across his scar, "in both senses of the word. I may never be the same again, but that doesn't mean I'm broken."

Link shook his head a little, "No Harry, you still don't quite understand." He looked up at Harry, his deep blue eyes full of such pain, pleading Harry to somehow relieve him of it that the young wizard felt a lump form in his own throat at the sight.

"It…It's not easy to take a life Harry, whether that life is good or evil. Whether it is an enemy soldier, a bulblin, or even a Skulltula, it still hurts. They all have souls, and lives, maybe even families, and I took it away from them by taking their life." A single tear trickled down and he gulped, trying to regain the miniscule amount of control he had left in him at the moment, "The way their eyes fade into nothing, staring blankly up at me will haunt me forever. No matter whether my acts are for good or not…." Link took a deep shuddering breath.

"I'm a murderer."

Harry gasped. He felt a burning in his eyes, but pushed it away and gripped Link by the shoulders, turning him to face him, looking deep into his mournful blue eyes, "I want you to listen to me very carefully, ok Link?"

Link nodded at the ground, his eyes downcast.

"You're not a bad person." Harry said it with as much truth and firmness behind the statement as he could muster so as to truly get it through the distraught boy's head. "You are a very good person who has to endure horrible things. You are not a murderer Link. You did this for good, with good intensions. Don't blame yourself for this; if anyone, blame the forces you are up against. They dragged you into this whole hero business to begin with, they forced you to become what you have become, not you. Do you understand?"

Link nodded, but still seemed unsure.

"When I say you became something else, I don't mean it in a bad way, Link. I just mean that…." Harry paused for a moment, trying to put his own experience into words, "It just means that you have been through more than anyone else you age has had to go through. You have aged several years in your soul but in reality, you're still a kid. _I'm_ still a kid. It's cruel, and it's not fair. None of this is. But I can tell you one thing for certain Link."

Harry cupped Link's face in his hands to make him look up at him before saying sincerely:

" _None_ of this is your fault."

Link stared, dumbfounded at Harry, so deeply touched that a couple more tears escaped his eyes, moistening Harry's fingers.

Harry continued, "Link, when I look at you, when you tell me of your hardships and all you've seen, I see myself. I see myself in you Link." He paused for a minute, then smiled sadly, "And knowing me, I keep everything bottled in me for a while, so if there is anything else you need to say, lay it on me."

Link took a deep shuddering breath, then it all came tumbling out. At the same time he felt an uncharacteristic anger building in his chest that he knew wasn't directed at Harry, but towards all those who had brought all of this upon him. "Harry, I have to defeat Ganondorf. _King. Of. Evil_." He moved his hands from right to left in the air as if spelling it out, surprising himself slightly at his snippy curt tone of voice, but Harry knew his anger was not directed at him, "Yeah, that's his name. King of Evil. They've all spoken of his unbeatable power and endless lust for more. He constantly transcends through history trying to take the Triforce." He held up the back or his left hand for Harry to see, a golden triangle made up of three with the lower right triangle glowing brighter than the rest, "Yeah, this thing. He won't stop until he has it. And it is the job of the Chosen Heroes, those with an unbreakable spirit, to stop him. There have been hundreds of these heroes, so I have a _lot_ to live up to. There's so much _pressure_!" He shook his clenched fists in front of his face for emphasis. His entire frame was tense and shaking. He was a ticking time bomb, and his fuse was running out. He might explode soon.

Harry's eyes widened, this sounded familiar. Link sounded like Ron. There were generations of Chosen Heroes and now it was his turn. But unlike Ron it was much harder than just having a bunch of older brothers.

"And the worst part of it is, not all of them succeeded in taking Ganon down. Some of them _died_ Harry!" He stared imploringly into Harry's emerald eyes as if pleading him to please relive him of this endless burden. Then he stared down at his hands, which were trembling, laced in his lap.

"I'm scared, Harry." He said in a voice so quiet and timid sounding it almost sounded like a toddler admitting to its parent of a fault. The pain in his voice was almost tangible, tearing at Harry's heart. "And- And I feel so stupid! I'm just a big miserable mess right now. What must you think of me…? I'm sorry…" And he truly sounded it.

Harry bit his lip, truly saddened by Link's display of hopeless fear. He gripped Link by the shoulders once again. "Don't be sorry Link. Just because you're a hero doesn't mean you can't act scared or weak. I know," He said at the look on Link's face, "It's a common misconception. If you bottle it all up in you, it will explode when you least expect it. Like it did now. It's ok to feel that way Link. You may be strong, and you may be the hero, but you aren't an invincible… god figure… thingy." Harry rolled his eyes at his word choice. "But anyway, you can't just curl up in a ball and expect it to go away. Sure, it is your job, but that doesn't mean you have to bear it alone. You have your friends. They will stand beside you, trust me. True friends have seen each other at the best and worst of times and they don't think any less of them because of it. You can let it out, let it all go." He stood, holding out a hand towards Link. Link hesitated, then took it, allowing Harry to pull him to his feet. Harry clapped him on the shoulder, "Remember Link, we're heroes. United we stand, divided we fall."

Link nodded, dragging his hand across his face, drying the tears. Then, without warning, he hugged him, holding onto him like a lifeline, his hands gripping at the back of Harry's sopping wet T-shirt. "Thank you. You have no idea how much this means to me."

Harry's eyes widened for a moment, completely bewildered, then he smiled and returning the gesture, cupping his left hand comfortingly behind the elfboy's head while the other gripped at the back of the green tunic, the material clumping together in his fist. He rested his head on the other's shoulder. "You too Link." Tears fell from behind his closed lids as his lips turned upward in a smile. He opened his eyes, looking up to the grey stormy sky with a distant, happy look on his face. Finally, finally someone understood his pain.


End file.
